6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed
I am not familiar with your seed, but generally with seed that size with a hard seed coat, I use course sand paper fastened to wood blocks and role the seed between them to wear through the coat. Then when they are soaked the seed will swell indicating the moisture is into the seed. Al
They should germinate.
Don't even need to dry them.
I usually break up old pumpkins (some rotted, some not) and throw them in the garden. They germinate very well, don't even need to bury the seeds. Just place the seed side down on the ground with the pumpkin section on top.
I'm not sure it helped all that much, it sounded a little vague to me - like they don't think it would hurt seeds but aren't positive enough to clearly say it absolutely won't hurt any, or any type.
I took it as maybe they would be fine, or maybe you should take them with you :)
It is slow to recover but I think it is recovering. Still broken glads and my zinnia is the slowest I've ever seen it growing. It looks like they started from scratch and with the heat maybe not growing so fast. The cosmos is such a gangbuster. The ones that I didn't stand up have started rooting on the ground and growing up from the horizontal stems. I thought about trying to throw more cosmos seed out there but I've never threw out seed this late. I guess it won't be that expensive an experiment. I figure I probably get germination from late season seed throwers anyway that bloom towards the end of the season so why not. I did take the opportunity to go ahead and purchase a couple at a time perennials so I did cheat a little.
Here are my pictures. The salvias are all taken from my previous house and are taking off like expected. There is a bee balm moved from the old yard too and I added a few low growing varieties in front of it. You can see the small zinia seedlings that I wonder if I'll ever get bloom from and the cosmos in there. Even some with a couple little buds but I snipped those off already.
In the middle here are the four o'clocks. Gotta have those. They never fail and laughed at being trampled. Unfortunately, the front of the 4 o'clocks is the only area the portulaca seems to be growing so I may try to move some of the seedlings to more bare areas in the front of the border where I wanted to anyway. All the rest have dissappeared and never to be seen again.
This area took the brunt of the abuse. You can see some of the cosmos laying on the ground between the 2 healthy ones. These are the ones that are rooting so I am going to leave them alone. I figure eventually they may be bushier than the others the way the vertical growth is coming off the horizontal ones. Hopefully they will fill in the area, but this is probably where I'll throw some extra seed.
I read this when you first posted and felt just awful for you. So glad so many plants are recovering so well. Don't know how much is "missing" but what is there looks really great, especially after reading what happened. Absolutely still time for more seeds! Keep up the good work!
I had windows replaced once and the entire area outside 2 of the windows was a flower bed. They used a few concrete cinder blocks with a board laid over them to give them a place to step without stepping in the garden. Hopefully your wall won't need maintenance for years now, but just wanted to mention that for next time somebody needs to access a flower bed area, it might be a workable solution.
I use Oasis foam to start my seedlings, and I often reuse foam from seeds that didn't sprout in the bottom of containers when I pot my seedlings. This has caused some seeds to decide they *want* to grow- I have sunflowers coming out of pots with seeds that are more slow-growing!
Hi cookie,
Yes, you should put drain holes in the bottom of the trays; the soil needs good drainage to allow oxygen to reach the roots. The soil needs to be damp but not wet.
Don't know what kind of plastic trays you have, but some plastics will crack or break if you try to drill holes through it. I usually burn the holes through using an old soldering iron, but of course anything hot enough would work as wall.
As for what to cover the trays with, keep in mind that the only purpose of covering the trays is to prevent the soil from drying out too quickly. If you're home all the time and can make sure the soil stays slightly damp, you really don't need to cover the trays at all. In fact, in my opinion, it's better if you can get by without covers. If you work all day and can't watch the plants close enough, then you might be better off covering the trays with something that would let the light in (glass, clear plastic, or even Saran or Handi Wrap).
Hope this helps,
Art
Yes, trays without holes are intended for holding other containers like cell packs, containers that already have holes in them. Solid trays should not be used for direct planting in.
Since it is already planted, rather than drilling you can use a hot nail, solder iron, woodburner iron, etc. to melt small holes in the bottom of the tray.
Dave
Just wanted to update this thread now that spring is here.
I gave up on the mini blocks for the aforementioned reasons (for this year anyway), but did decide to go on and start the majority of my pole beans in the 2" blocks using just some Pro Mix BX. The blocks seems too spongy when I was making them, but they worked beautifully! The blocks did hold together very well in the end.
I transplanted some of them yesterday and the beans I started in the blocks were noticably stockier and much easier to handle than those I started in the cell packs, where the soil was looser and the plants quite a bit leggier. There was no overcompression with this soil mix, even though I didn't change my packing technique from the last (failed) attempt. I wonder if it was the better quality of peat in the Pro Mix BX compared to the cheaper peat I was using in my own homemade mix. The roots had no trouble pushing through this time.
I bought a fogging nozzle and found it a lot easier to water them that way, too. :)
Nice discussion.
For wicking I found an dead pine branch ~4" in diameter and cut it into 2" slices. Each slice then holds a 3" diameter soil block which I make right on top of the slice. I use ABS 3" pipe to mold them and a metal water bottle as the plunger. A normal black seedling tray holds 8 of these blocks with a pine slice base.
Watering is easy just water to the bottom of the tray about 1.5" and the pine slice wicks up plenty of water to the block. The soil doesn't get disturbed at all and no misting required.
It is also easy to move individual blocks around before plants have sprouted, since they have a hard base (pine slice) to hold them from.
Have you ever saved seeds for hyacinth bean before? Are you sure it was fully mature? You can try sprouting the seeds on a moist paper towel in a ziploc bag. Keep checking to see if they sprout...if you don't see any action, the seeds might not be viable.
This is my first year starting onion seeds. Most everywhere I looked said start inside 10-12 weeks before transplanting. April-May is the date set by Purdue University, That is what guide I use. Last Year I planted the plants Mothers Day and they done great. I just looked at the directions on the package of seeds and it said start 8 weeks before transplanting. If thats the case then I may be a little early.
For some strange reason I can not get onion seeds to sprout this year. Walla Walla or Spanish sweet varieties. Indoors OR out. I finally bought some starter plants today locally. Not sure why they won't pop up for me! Normal under florescent light method.
I wintersow most of my perennials. I always do my foxgloves and delphiniums this way, delphs and a few others need some cold treatment to germinate well. Because most perennials don't bloom the first year, I usually wintersow them, then move them into larger pots for the summer, then,in early fall I move them into their permanent beds. This way, I can have flowering annuals in their beds for the summer, instead of the perennials which won't give me any flowers until next year. I have a batch of wintersown delphs, foxgloves, columbines and armeria in pots now, which I will plant in Sept. For me, in zone 5, summer is a bit late to start them, as they are not always big enough by fall to be hardy enough for winter.
OK so I need to rethink my plan here. It doesn't sound like summertime starts will work for me. Looks like I will be trying out wintersowing this year. hpny2, I like your idea of keeping them in the pots throughout the summer and then planting out in the fall. What size pots do you find yourself using for the foxgloves and delphiniums? And are you giving each plant its own pot or is it more of a community pot setup?
morz8 that Clothiers database is excellent!
Thank you to everyone for sharing your knowledge. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm very appreciative of the guidance you offer.
Have you checked out the many exchanges forums here?
Dave
yes, but nobody could help yet .. :(